Hella Hirsch (6 March 1921 - 4 March 1943) was a Jewish resistance fighter during World War II. She was a member of the Baum Group, a collaborative anti-Nazi resistance organization. [1]
Hirsch was executed for her role on in the Baum Group's arson attack against an anti-Soviet exhibition in Berlin.
Hirsch was born in Poznań, Poland. Her father was a transport worker and her mother was a housewife. [1] She attended Margarethen-Lyceum School after which she attended Jewish middle school for one year. She went on to study commerce at the firm of Zeidler and Remark from 1937-1939. [2] Hirsch worked as a receptionist for local doctor, Fritz Hirschfeld. [1] [2]
Hirsch was a member of Ring, Bund Deutsch-Jüdischer Jugend (Ring Association of Jewish Youth), a Jewish Social organization that was forced to disband in 1937. The group's leader was Judith Kozminski. [1]
Hirsch was forced by the Nazis to work at the IG Farben's Aceta chemical works in Berlin-Rummelsburg starting in June 1941. [1] Through Judith Kozminski, Hirsch connected with Herbert Baum, a Jewish man active in the resistance movement. Hirsch joined Baum's resistance group with her sister, Alice. [1]
On 18 May 1942 the Baum Group and another anti-Nazi group set fire to Das Sowjetparadies (The Soviet Paradise), an anti-Soviet exhibit in Berlin's Lustgarten. [2] Group members were caught by the Nazis. Most were executed quickly and others were murdered a short time later in prisons and concentration camps. [3] Hirsch was arrested on 8 July 1942 and executed in Berlin-Plötzensee on 4 March 1943. [1]